Darker than Black: Warring Factions
by BlackScleraCyanIris
Summary: Lan, also called Supernova, has recently joined the new Syndicate, who's members are being assassinated by the remains of the old Syndicate. Lan and her team are hunting, and being hunted by the once-great shadow organization that she used to work for. Sequel to Darker than Black: Supernova.


**This is the first chapter of Darker than Black: Warring Factions. It is another story that follows Lan, Contractor XO-389, also known as the Supernova. **

**For those of you who haven't read the prequel, the Supernova joined the new Syndicate. In this story, Lan and her team are playing cat-and-mouse with the remnants of the old Syndicate.**

**The chapter opens with a Contractor walking through Tokyo at night, roughly four days after Lan joined the new Syndicate.**

**(Chapter Begins)**

Dimitri walked through the streets of Tokyo's Nakano ward, trying to stay close to as many people as possible. He was frequently looking over his shoulder, trying to spot whoever was following him.

He had been trying to shake them for over an hour, but he could feel an ominous presence somewhere close by, sticking to him like glue. After breaking away from the crowds, he still felt the presence.

Eventually, he found himself in a back alley, hiding behind a dumpster. He was nervous, as seven other members of the New Syndicate had been assassinated over the past week and a half. The two most recent killings were in Tokyo, which started roughly three days ago.

_Now they're after me._

Dimitri waited for the assassin's arrival for over five minutes. He was beginning to grow frustrated when he spotted the unexpected.

When he lifted his arm to put his hand on his head, he saw a surveillance specter on the skin of his forearm. The specter vanished soon after he spotted it, along with the ominous presence that had been lingering with him.

He jumped out from behind the dumpster as soon as he realized what was going on, but quickly skidded to a stop before he got far.

Standing in the mouth of the alley were two people, a man and a woman, holding hands. Both of them were probably in their early thirties.

The woman was about five-foot-six, with chestnut hair and light grey eyes. Her face had several piercings, including on her bottom lip, nose, and eyebrows. She had large hoop earrings.

Dimitri could easily tell that the man was a doll, likely the one who was tracking him. He had a very emotionless expression. He was roughly four inches taller than his partner. He had the same color eyes as the woman standing next to him. His short hair was a darker shade of brown.

"Good job, brother," the woman said to her companion, "you've found another one."

"Damn," Dimitri said as he took two steps back. He turned to look for an exit, but found that the alley had only one exit, the one that his stalkers were standing in.

Dimitri was about to activate his ability, but the woman beat him to it.

Her eyes glowed red, and Dimitri suddenly felt unbalanced. He began to see double, and quickly felt exhausted. After a moment, he lost his vision all together, and pain manifested in his head and behind his eyes. Within seconds, he lost his balance and fell onto the ground. Death came within less than five minutes.

Another star fell from the night sky.

**(Changing Character)**

"This is Bao," the female Contractor said into her radio, "Another target eliminated."

"Any problems," a man's voice asked over the secure channel.

"Negative," Bao answered, "Zong and I are fine. He wasn't even a challenge."

"Glad to hear it. You've done well so far. Now the higher-ups want Zong to search for a special target."

Bao had a pretty good idea who was next. "Supernova, right?"

"Correct. I want you to begin the hunt tomorrow. For now, eat something and get some rest. You'll need to be ready for this one."

"Understood," Bao replied. With that, she deactivated the radio. She led Zong away from the alleyway.

Eventually, they returned to their hotel. As soon as they were settled in, Bao removed a piercing pistol from her pocket. She loaded a stud into it and placed it against her tongue.

_Damn, I hate my payment._

**(Changing Characters)**

**(The following morning.)**

**Author's Note: Bao means Jewel in Chinese, while Zong means brown in Chinese.**

Lan rode her blue Suzuki motorcycle through the streets of Tokyo. She couldn't help but notice that the city hasn't changed much in the past nine years.

Tokyo was where Lan grew up. She lived there for a long time, until she became a Contractor. Until she woke up inside of Hell's Gate, she had not been back there for over nine years.

Lan parked her Suzuki and walked into a restaurant called Pizza Slice. She walked in and headed into the bathroom. After removing her motor leathers, she sat down at a table and looked over the menu.

She sensed someone sitting down behind her.

"Dimitri's dead," Mina said from the booth behind her, "The same as Andrews and DuPont."

"Same MO," Lan asked, not looking away from the menu.

"Yes," Mina answered, "Brain aneurism. Just like the others."

"Contractor?"

"Most likely. Astronomics think that the Contractor's number is SG-824."

"Any idea who he's working for?"

"Intelligence thinks it might be the old Syndicate."

Lan's eyes lifted up, and then back down to the menu. "I thought that they were dissolved."

"They are," Mina said, "but there are remnants. They're rather disorganized, but they still get things done."

"And they've set their sights on us, is that it?"

"Apparently so. Oreille wanted me to warn you to stay alert. Since you used to work for them, they might see you as a loose end."

"And since my star is not exactly subtle," Lan said, "they likely know that I'm back."

"The whole world knows that you're back," Mina said, "You'd better watch your back."

"You too," Lan said, "The targets so far have all been Contractors. You could be the next target."

"I'll be careful," Mina said. She stood up and left the restaurant.

After eating her breakfast, Lan put her leathers back on and got on her motorcycle. She spent several hours speaking with informants, looking for any information that could be helpful.

_A Contractor that can cause brain aneurisms. This one will be tricky._

Many questions were buzzing through Lan's mind, but two in particular were eating at her.

_How are they finding us so easily? If they can find us, why are they just killing Contractors?_

At six PM, Lan was sitting in a park, reading her book of magic tricks, when she suddenly felt a presence. She calmly looked around her, but found nobody but normal civilians.

_Someone's watching me. _

Lan calmly got up from the park bench and walked away. She got on her motorcycle, and sped away, but she could not shake whoever was tailing her.

She walked into a movie store to see if her pursuers would follow her inside. No one suspicious walked through the door.

_Maybe I'm becoming paranoid._

She headed into the ladies room to wash her face. After splashing cold water onto her face, she looked into the mirror and spotted something strange.

She saw what she thought was a surveillance specter on her left shoulder. Seconds after looking at it, it vanished. She suddenly felt like no one was following her.

Suddenly, she knew what was happening.

She walked a brisk pace outside of the movie store and got back onto her motorcycle.

**(Changing Characters)**

"She saw me," Zong said in his signature monotone.

"What," Bao asked, "Already?"

"Yes. She is on to us."

"Damn. Higher-ups said that she was smart."

**(Changing Characters)**

Lan parked her bike in a parking garage and removed her leathers. She placed them in her blue satchel and left the garage.

She realized that what she saw was a surveillance specter after all, one that belonged to a doll who's medium was Contractors.

_Another Doll that uses people for a medium. Just like Ariel and Bernice._

She calmly walked through the streets of Tokyo, waiting for her would-be assassin. She walked for over two hours.

She walked to the top of another parking garage roughly thirty blocks from where she parked her motorcycle.

Lan stood near the edge and watched the stars for quite a while. She looked over to the star labeled BK-201. She was still coming to grips with the fact that Hei was the one bound to the star now.

_Hei. If you're BK-201 now, then what happened to your sister?_

Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard soft footsteps behind her. She slowly turned and spotted two people.

"So you're XO-389," the woman asked, "I expected you to be taller."

"You're the one who killed Dimitri," Lan asked.

"I am. Name's Bao. I also killed the other six."

"I'm guessing that he," Lan said, pointing to the man, "is the tall that's been…sticking to me?"

"Zong," the woman said, "He's my twin brother."

"So the old Syndicate is still clinging to existence?"

"They practically panicked," the woman said as she pointed to the bright blue star in the night sky, "When they saw your star return."

"I'm not surprised," Lan said, "The Syndicate was always paranoid."

"Their reasons don't matter," Bao said, "I just do what I'm told."

Lan calmly walked onto the edge of the roof.

"Come on," Bao said, "That's not very rational…"

Before Bao finished her sentence, Lan backed off of the edge.

**(Changing Character)**

Bao couldn't believe that her target jumped off of the roof. She jogged to the edge to look over the edge, and saw no one down there. She quickly realized that Supernova must have dropped to a lower level of the parking garage.

"Clever," she said.

Bao snapped her head to the sky when the target's star started to flash. She quickly moved back to her brother.

"She's one level below," Zong said.

The sister Contractor turned when she heard a car engine starting. Its headlights flashed on. The car accelerated towards Bao and her brother. She quickly grabbed Zong and got out of the way.

As the car sped by, Bao saw that no one was driving it.

"Damn."

Luckily, the car did not come around for another strike, as it simply turned off. Bao heard the echo of a soft whistle coming from the lower level.

"Is she still down there?"

"She is," Zong said, "Wait!"

"What?"

"Someone else is watching me."

"Someone…?"

Bao pulled out her radio.

"This is Bao. Code four."

"She's moving," Zong said.

"Where," Bao asked, looking around.

"She left something on the roof…" Zong began. He was cut off when an explosion knocked both him and his sister off of their feet. A smoking hole was blown in the garage's top floor.

Bao was disoriented. She crawled on the ground, trying to get her bearings.

"The classic sawing a woman in half trick," the Supernova said from somewhere in the smoke, "The woman in the box scrunches up her body, and avoids the saw blade, while a pair of fake legs stick out of the other end of the box."

"Huh," Bao asked as she turned her head, looking for the source of the voice. She found it, along with herself looking down the barrel of a gun.

"Revealing the secrets of magic tricks," the target said, "one of the prices I have to pay for one of my abilities."

**(Changing Characters)**

Lan had the Contractor called Bao at her mercy.

"I see," the heavily pierced woman said, "You **are** good."

Lan caused the explosion by pulling a bomb out of thin air and attaching it to the ceiling beneath her foes.

"I'm not alone," Bao said, "I didn't come to Japan with only my brother."

"I'll keep that in mind," Lan said. She pulled the trigger of her Berretta 92, killing the enemy Contractor with one shot to the head.

The Doll called Zong was killed in the explosion. His sister did not die alone.

As she began to walk away, Lan felt something coming. She turned to see what appeared to be a cloud of ice rushing toward her.

"Shit," she exclaimed as she leapt out of the way. Cold air bit Lan as the ice rushed past her.

"I guess this must be one of her friends."

**(Chapter Ends)**

**The fighting continues in the next chapter.**


End file.
